The Effect of Board Independence on the Sustainability Reporting Practices of Large U.S. Firms \

As sustainability reporting becomes more commonplace, it is important to understand the factors that influence firms’ voluntary reporting decisions. This exploratory study examines whether board independence affects the sustainability reporting decisions of the 500 largest firms in the United States. We also investigate other factors that may be associated with sustainability reporting, including environmental performance and reputation. We find that firms with a greater proportion of independent board members are: 1) more likely to publish standalone sustainability reports, and 2) more likely to publish higher quality sustainability reports. This paper contributes to prior literature that reports somewhat mixed results on the effect of board independence on voluntary disclosure

Geographic earnings disclosure and trading volume

Beginning with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 131 (SFAS 131), Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information, most US multinational firms no longer disclose geographic earnings in their annual reports. Given the recent growth in foreign operations of US firms and the varying operating environments around the world, information (or lack thereof) related to geographical performance can affect investors' information set. Using empirical tests that closely follow the [Kim, O., Verrecchia, R., 1997. Pre-announcement and event-period private information. Journal of Accounting and Economics 24, 395-419] model, we find results consistent with their predictions. Specifically, using a sample of firms with substantial foreign operations, we find evidence of a decrease in event period private information following adoption of SFAS 131 for firms that no longer disclose geographic earnings. These results suggest that decreased public information (i.e., non-disclosure of geographic earnings) reduces the ability of investors to utilize or generate private information in conjunction with the public announcement of quarterly earnings, which dampens trading. We also find evidence of a decrease in pre-announcement private information following adoption of SFAS 131. This is consistent with an overall improvement in public disclosures that has the effect of reducing differences in the precision of private information across investors in the period prior to the earnings announcement. However, such an effect is observed for both firms which no longer disclose geographic earnings and for firms that continue to disclose geographic earnings.Geographic segment disclosures Trading volume SFAS 131 Multinational firms Pre-announcement private information Event-period private information